Ex-cop alleges sheriff’s sergeant misconduct

CHULA VISTA  A retired San Diego police officer has filed a lawsuit against a sheriff’s sergeant, alleging he was unlawfully detained and searched in an hours-long encounter last fall in the parking lot at Chula Vista Superior Court.

Timothy Newell, 44, of El Cajon filed the suit at the same courthouse on Tuesday against Sgt. Elizabeth Palmer, a 27-year sheriff’s veteran who has been the subject of other misconduct complaints.

“I want to be compensated for my rights being violated, and I want for her to not be in uniform anymore,” Newell said in an interview. “If the Sheriff’s Department doesn’t do something about this, no one is going to trust them.”

Palmer is on “approved leave” from her job, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said. She declined to say when Palmer went on leave, but in early April Caldwell said Palmer was employed and assigned to duties other than the Chula Vista courthouse.

Newell said that on Nov. 29 he went to the courthouse parking lot to view patrol cars for sale, for his private security business. His lawsuit alleges that Palmer, not in uniform, confronted him about looking into a fenced lot and called over uniformed deputies.

He alleges she searched his van, cellphone and wallet without his consent, and detained him for several hours.

Newell, who retired from the San Diego Police Department in 2003 with a knee injury, was not arrested and no charges were filed.

His suit says that Palmer has been retained as a county employee “despite several prior incidents of misconduct that related to the violation of the constitutional rights of members of the general public.” He did not seek a specific amount for damages.

Newell said he filed a complaint with the sheriff’s internal affairs division on Dec. 15 and has not been notified of any results. Investigators found at least two prior complaints against Palmer unfounded and did not investigate a third complaint. The county paid $150,000 last fall to settle a 2009 federal lawsuit against Palmer for false arrest.

Caldwell said she could not comment on Newell’s suit because it is pending litigation.